The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-06-18


aski. Msssac, Union, johnson, Pope, Har.
din. Ran iolph, Monroe, Calhoun, Jersey,
Greene, Pike, Scott, Brown, Adams, Han
cock, Mcpherson, Whiteside, Lee, Kendall,
iroouois. Ksnkakee, Will, Carroll, Ogle,
DaK Alb. X sne, DuPage, Cook, Lake, Nc
Henry, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson or
Jo DaviesS Il
' There Is a ckance Of discovery In each OF
the counties of Jackson, Williamson, Sa-
line, Galla,in, Perry, Franklin, Hamilton,
White, ~. Clair, Washington, Jefferson,
Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Morgan, Csss
Menard Schuyler, Mason, McDonough,
Fulton, Warren, Knox, Peoria, Mercer
Rock Island, Henry and Bureau.
The counties which may yteH gas or on
at great depth. In situations not very favor
able 20 development are: Clinton Marion,
CLAW, Richland, and perhaps few others
but from present appearances the remain
Ing counties are favorably situated. W
these, the conditions are especially goo"
presumably In the counties OF Champaign,
| Ford, Livingston, Edgar Vermillion west
edge, Clark, Douglas, Mclean, Woodford,
Marshall, Piatt, Dewitt, Coles, Shelby,
Montgomery and Madison, with, probably,
other adjoining counties which can be In
cluded when their geology has been thor'
oughly worked up.
In presenting this classification, do not
wish 10 be understood rs doing more than
! 10 outline the territory 10 the best manner
pJssible with our limited information con
corning the sub structure OF our own state.
IL l. "A CRYING disgrace that the means OF
settling this question has not been provided
We cannot hope 10 know positively what
our resources are until our Legislature Is ed
u"ated up 10 the point OF providing llber'
ally for tie Geological Survey.
Turning now % the actual discoveries
and their teachings We find that rs early as
1854 the first discovery Of oil or gas In Ill
no;s WAS made about five miles north west
of Urbana, Champaign county. In digging
for water, gas was encountered at u depth
of 20 feet. In 1865, petroleum was discov.
cred In small quantity In well near chi
cago, in Niagara Limestone This rock Is
too lear the surface In Cook county 10
make the deposit economically important.
In 1873, another incidentally discovered
gas well. WAS opened twoa and one-half miles
south of Champaign at a depth OF ID feet
This Is upon the Iarm Of ii. }. Dunlap
presen. editor of the Champaign Gazette,
and, like the first one mentioned, Is sun
used for household purposes. Since that
date several similar wells, none over ninety
feet in depth, all in the drift deposits, have
been struck In Champaign and adjoining
counties The pressure per square lnch Is
about 30 pounds or less. All these wells
besides numerous o'her other indications
of the presence of natural gas, lie along
the La Sale Terre Haute axis previously
Indicated and all other reports which have
reached me seem to bring the discoveries
wholly within the range OF this and what
have roughly dominated the Alton Terre-
lIaute axis
Petroleum (heavy lubricating OLD and
abundant supplies Of gas have been dlscov
cred at Litthfield, Montgomery county,
and very small amounts Of the feImer have
been taken frCm u mine at Nation. l am
constantly receiving reports Of similar dis
coveries of greater or less importance from
various points within the territory marked
out In these pages. If future investiga
tons shall extend or narrow the boundaries
of the productive area, II will be because
our present ideas of the geology of the
state are erroneous.
, If we study the sub Jet further we shall
learn that our best chances OF success are
exactly in those places In which tire-damp
Is most abundant In the mines. In 1880
! Mr.. John Fulton, of Johnstown, Pa, called
! attention to the prevalence of this gas In
3 the mines of that section, and he concluded
that this was an indication of the existence
, of liberal supply there for economic pur,
+ poses In his paper he clearly showed
, the exotic origin of the gas, and there Is no
little doubt that our supplies OF this mater
ial do not come directly from the coal.
, More than this the mines of Illinois In
/ which fire damp does not occur are In Ills
/, tricts which give no hope of yielding sup
D plies of natural gas, and my own observa-
I tions convince me that the greatest amounts
, of fire damp are given or over the area
, herein indicated as the most favorable Tor
our purposes. ! have met this gas AT SD
{ ney, Champaign county at the depth OF
3G5 feet, and II occurs frequently In other
r pla es, as at Paris, Marshallville, etc, even
when unsupported by the miners, as has
3 been shown more than once OF late.
Many still hold to the idea that the de
, posts along the La Sale. Terre Haute axis
) are neatly local, being derived from the de
r composition of bed of peat some W feet
> below the surface. This explanation was
satisfactory to myself until had investi-
gated the facts. Now | am fully convinced
3 that this view Is quite untenable, and for
? the following reasons:
I First, the pressure of the gas Increases
r after passing below the peat bed, and II
r has been found at much greater depths.
$ Secondly, there are considerable local
| variations in the character OF the peat from
3 mere black soil to veritahle peat and there
are no corresponding variations Ia the
. quantity Of the gas, but sometimes there Is
5 no gas where the peat occurs, and great
abundance where the common soil is
found
y Thirdly, the gas follows structural lines
: in the strata beneath the drift rather than
i the local distribution of the peat bed.
Many minor features of denudation
i aud subsequent deposition are only partly
h worked out In thestate, hence we are much
n more liable to he correct In stating where
: gas cannot be found than in eur favored 10
r calities.
o In the water works we'll at Urbana, gas
i is evident, and its abu lance is variable
= depending largely upon conditions of at
i mospheric pressure. Near Paxton there Is
4 a peculiar small area of spouting wells
J. which has never been satisfactorily ex
It planned | see No reason to doubt that gas
$ is the propelling power, and very likely a
! similar cause gave rise to the almost ire
a pressible Iowa fountain, which created the